Trainpal not showing Railcard

[allotments]

Purchased digital railcard on Trainpal app this morning, proceeded to purchase a ticket for travel today.

App shows "You don't have any railcard yet". Logged in and out several times. Same.

No real person customer service only bot online or automated phone, which said use Trip.com app for railcard. Can't be right. Did that, Trip app finds but does not display railcard, says use app where railcard purchased, i.e. Trainpal.

Isn't Trainpal supposed to be an accredited retailer?

Now I'm on a train unable to show the railcard.

I have the transaction data from PayPal showing payment but no confirmation email to show what the transaction was for.

Emailed Trainpal 4 hours ago. No reply.

Purchased digital railcard on Trainpal app this morning, proceeded to purchase a ticket for travel today.

App shows "You don't have any railcard yet". Logged in and out several times. Same.

No real person customer service only bot online or automated phone, which said use Trip.com app for railcard. Can't be right. Did that, Trip app finds but does not display railcard, says use app where railcard purchased, i.e. Trainpal.

Isn't Trainpal supposed to be an accredited retailer?

Now I'm on a train unable to show the railcard.

I have the transaction data from PayPal showing payment but no confirmation email to show what the transaction was for.

Emailed Trainpal 4 hours ago. No reply.

Seems I'm not alone... here's a review attached from TrustPilot from yesterday. Exactly the same issue.

 

[embers25]

Trainpal only show the railcard AFTER you buy a ticket from them, even if you have already paid for the railcard. This is not made clear during purchase, but is after you've bought it and try to access it. I had to find the cheapest ticket I could as I already had my ticket. I still saved money on the railcard, but obviously not as much and it left a very bitter taste.

 

[allotments]

Trainpal only show the railcard AFTER you buy a ticket from them, even if you have already paid for the railcard. This is not made clear during purchase, but is after you've bought it and try to access it. I had to find the cheapest ticket I could as I already had my ticket. I still saved money on the railcard, but obviously not as much and it left a very bitter taste.

How long after？ I bought railcard from Trainpal at 08:29, ticket from Trainpal at 11:08 for travel today, collected ticket from station at 15:20 and travelled at 15:33. Railcard still hasn't shown up in app.

 

[Iet2389]

Have you tried in the account section and if there's a download option? From experience the app presents the most problems trying to show a Railcard - it often needs good signal or WiFi for the "show Railcard" option to even appear, so you might even be looking on the right tab or page but it hasn't loaded.

 

[embers25]

How long after？ I bought railcard from Trainpal at 08:29, ticket from Trainpal at 11:08 for travel today, collected ticket from station at 15:20 and travelled at 15:33. Railcard still hasn't shown up in app.

Mine showed straight after paying for the ticket.

 

[allotments]

Mine showed straight after paying for the ticket.

Did you get email confirmation from Trainpal of railcard purchase？ All I have is a transaction on PayPal with no detail showing what for.

Still no response from Trainpal customer service.

 

[Adam Williams]

Appreciate hindsight is always going to be 20/20 here, but this thread illustrates quite well why it does pay to choose your Railcard retailer quite carefully. The reviews on TrustPilot suggest it's not an isolated case either. The phrase "you get what you pay for" springs to mind.

Hopefully in the worst case you can get your money back with PayPal's buyer protection.

 

[allotments]

Maybe Trainpal customers are expected to debug the Trainpal app?

Screenshot attached shows what Trip.com has to say about the railcard I purchased on 28 Feb. Strange that the valid to date is 3 years plus one day from date of issue. I'd expect valid until 27 Feb 2028.

So following Trainpal logic, is it possible that my ticket purchased for travel yesterday 28 Feb fell outside the 3 year railcard validity, assuming valid 1 March 2025 - 28 Feb 2028?

And if that happened following their logic the railcard might not get activated and isn't displayed in app?

I've found other bugs in Trainpal/Trip already.

Transport for Wales Bus Pass Concession is listed in railcards but the appropriate zero fare isn't applied.

I was also surprised to make payment to Trip.com via PayPal when purchasing via Trainpal. Hadn't realised these are same organisation. Trip.com operating from China originally I think.

 

[embers25]

Did you get email confirmation from Trainpal of railcard purchase？ All I have is a transaction on PayPal with no detail showing what for.

Still no response from Trainpal customer service.

No email just railcard appeared..wouldn't use them again.

 

[allotments]

Trainpal responded after 24 hours asking for more information and then emailed this morning to say that the booking didn't complete successfully and they will refund.

I responded that the purchase was successful, evidenced by invoice and Trip app finding railcard, so I wanted railcard displayed in Trainpal app as expected, also that I did not want a refund.

Trainpal then emailed that they had cancelled the railcard, to which I replied that "I have not agreed to cancellation/refund and strongly object to this. I have already paid for my railcard, which clearly exists. You do not have the right to cancel."

I've also emailed RDG to complain that this isn't acceptable behaviour from an accredited retailer.

I've asked Trainpal to fix their problem promptly or credit me £80 to purchase a railcard from a different vendor.

Could a moderator please move this thread to Disputes section?

 

[SouthernOne]

Some of the deals with Trainpal require you to buy a ticket for £70 or more to activate your railcard! This is their 99p per month offer!

I would suggest not bothering and buy it from Railcard.co.uk

 

[MrJeeves]

I would suggest not bothering and buy it from Railcard.co.uk

Or one of the various other accredited digital railcard retailers. It's not like the RDG site is infallible from encountering issues as we've seen before.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Or one of the various other accredited digital railcard retailers. It's not like the RDG site is infallible from encountering issues as we've seen before.

Trainline or Trainsplit seem like good choices.

 

[allotments]

An update on the outcome of this...

Although I insisted that I wanted the railcard not a refund, Trainpal refunded the cost of the original railcard which hadn't shown up in their app.

Trainpal advised that I could purchase another railcard via their app, which I did, this time the railcard appeared as expected. The first card was unexpectedly valid for 3 years and 1 day, the replacement for 3 years exactly.

Although the price of the railcard had increased between the two purchases, in response to my emails requesting a proper solution, I also received two separate £10 vouchers from Trainpal which I used to purchase tickets, more than compensating for the increase.

Rail Delivery Group responded promptly to my complaint but didn't show any interest in monitoring the performance of accredited railcard retailers.

Trainpal doesn't seem to advertise a customer service phone number that connects to a real person. There was a delay of 24 hours before my support request was acknowledged and in all it took 3 days to get a railcard to display, during which time I was already travelling and using the railcard which couldn't be displayed properly. Fortunately I didn't need to show it, but what would have happened if I had been challenged?

Customer service emails from Trainpal are understandable but written in unnatural English and arrive at times of night when local personnel would still be asleep. I doubt that customer service based elsewhere in the world would have an adequate understanding of UK rail customer needs.

This was unexpectedly a lot of hassle just to buy a functional railcard at a discounted price.

Given the likely volume of sales there could be many customers who paid for a non-functional railcard and needed it to travel.

 

[reb0118]

...... Fortunately I didn't need to show i[the railcard], but what would have happened if I had been challenged......

The official policy is a new ticket is to be sold, or a penalty fare, or a report taken.

However, under the train operators railcard amnesty policy, it may well be possible to obtain a refund on any new tickets purchased, or cancellation of any penalty fare and/or report.

Failing that, you may have redress against TrainPal for any additional fares purchased.